Installation Guide

August 20, 2026 · View on GitHub

litkit-dsh requires Python 3.11 or newer and works on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

1. Prerequisites

python --version    # need 3.11+; if missing, install from python.org / Homebrew / your distro

Windows: install from python.org (tick Add Python to PATH). Avoid the Microsoft Store alias if you hit weird PATH issues.
macOS: brew install python@3.12 (installs Xcode CLT automatically if needed).
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu): sudo apt install python3 python3-venv python3-pip.
uv (optional, recommended): pip install uv or curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh.

2. Install

A. From GitHub (recommended)

Current distribution is GitHub-only (PyPI publishing is planned but not yet available):

pip install "litkit-search @ git+https://github.com/bpc-oss/litkit-search.git"

Requires git on PATH. For a pinned version, append @v0.1.0 to the URL.

B. From source (development / latest)

git clone https://github.com/bpc-oss/litkit-search.git
cd litkit-search
python -m venv .venv
# Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate   |   macOS/Linux: source .venv/bin/activate
pip install .

C. From a local wheel (pre-release builds)

# Windows PowerShell — globs don't expand, install each file:
Get-ChildItem dist\*.whl | ForEach-Object { pip install $_.FullName }
# macOS/Linux:
pip install dist/litkit_search-*.whl

D. With uv

uv venv --python 3.11
uv pip install "litkit-search @ git+https://github.com/bpc-oss/litkit-search.git"
# or from source: uv pip install -e .

E. With conda

conda create -n litkit-dsh python=3.11
conda activate litkit-dsh
pip install "litkit-search @ git+https://github.com/bpc-oss/litkit-search.git"

3. Optional extras

Extra	Install	Provides
`browser`	`pip install 'litkit-search[browser]'`	Playwright for browser-assisted publisher downloads (also needs Node.js) — see browser.md
`dev`	`pip install 'litkit-search[dev]'`	pytest / ruff / mypy / pre-commit for contributors
`mcp`	`pip install 'litkit-search[mcp]'`	MCP server (`litkit-mcp`) for agent clients — see mcp.md

4. Verify

litkit-dsh doctor

You should see PASS for python, core dependencies, sources registry (25 sources), and network. WARN entries are advisory (optional API keys, GROBID/anystyle, browser chain). If anything FAILs, see troubleshooting.md.

5. Configure (optional)

Most sources work with no API keys. To enable higher rate limits / richer metadata, configure keys — see configuration.md:

litkit-dsh sync-keys            # interactive
# or copy .env.example to .env and fill in values